BIBLIOTHECA MVSEI MARISIENSIS SERIES ARCHAEOLOGICA XVI PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUMS FROM TÂRGU MUREŞ Editor SÁNDOR BERECKI Iron Age Connectivity in the Carpathian Basin PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM FROM TÂRGU MUREŞ 13–15 October 2017 Edited by Sándor BERECKI Aurel RUSTOIU Mariana EGRI Editura MEGA Cluj-Napoca 2018 The editing of the volume was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE–2016-0353, within PNCDI III. The volume was accomplished in the frame of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. © Mureş County Museum, 2018 Executive editor: Zoltán Soós, Director Front cover: Bronze chain belt from Veţel (photo: I. V. Ferencz) MUZEUL JUDEŢEAN MUREŞ CP 85, str. Mărăşti nr. 8A, 540328 Târgu Mureş, România www.muzeumures.ro ISBN 978-606-020-028-4 Descrierea CIP este disponibilă la Biblioteca Națională a României. Editura MEGA Cluj-Napoca e-mail: [email protected] www.edituramega.ro Contents Mitja GUŠTIN Celtic Chariot Burials: Graves 6 and 55 at Brežice, Slovenia 7 Marko DIZDAR Reflections about Some Specific Finds of Female Costume in the Southern Carpathian Basin – Can We Recognize Female Mobility in the Middle La Tène? 15 Peter C. RAMSL Interregional Relations and Connections in Central Europe’s Iron Age 39 Branislav KOVÁ R , Radoslav ČAMBAL, Marek BUDAJ The Late La Tène Oppidum in Bratislava 51 Attila HORVÁTH M. Connectivities in the Celtic Cemetery of Csepel Island 65 Eszter SOÓS, Károly TANKÓ An Attempt at Interpretation of the La Tène and Roman Period Settlement Finds from Szilvásvárad in Northeast-Hungary 77 Péter F. KOVÁC S Traces of Local Interactions and Regional Connections in the Middle Tisza Region 91 Mariana EGRI Contact Zones and Negotiated Peripherality – Meanings and Functions in the Eastern Carpathian Basin during the Late Iron Age 99 Aurel RUSTOIU Travelling Symbols. A Decorated Ceramic Beaker from Late Iron Age Cemetery at Fântânele–Dâmbu Popii in Transylvania 119 Sándor BERECKI Connected Elites. Middle La Tène Chariots in the Carpathian Basin 143 Andrei GEORGESCU A Warrior’s Beauty? Variations of a Burial Custom in the Carpathian Basin 165 Iosif Vasile FERENCZ, Horea POP La Tène Mobility in the Şimleu Depression. About a Celtic Grave Found in Zalău 175 Paul PUPEZĂ Between Celts, Thracians and Greeks. The Cemetery from Cepari 185 Malvinka URÁK Late Iron Age Double-Lyre Stamped Pottery from the Mureş Valley, Transylvania 197 Andreea DRĂGAN The Role of the Danube in the Flow of Objects. The Case of the Amphorae from the Late Iron Age Settlement at Divici–Grad, Romania 215 Marija LJUŠTINA, Teodora RADIŠIĆ La Tène Agricultural Implements in the Vojvodina Region, Serbia: Tradition and Innovation 227 Daniel SPÂNU Kostrzewski K Fibula in Padea–Panagjurski Kolonii Group 239 Abbreviations 253 Connected Elites. Middle La Tène Chariots in the Carpathian Basin* Sándor BERECKI Mureş County Museum Târgu Mureş, Romania [email protected] Keywords: Celts, Carpathian Basin, chariot, warrior, warfare, elite At first sight, it might seem that the Late Iron Age chariots from the Carpathian Basin were exhaus- tively discussed. However, a new approach of the subject is apposite since chariots are (sometimes only briefly) mentioned in publications of materials, also in the meantime new finds appeared, and a need for a comparative analysis of the chariot components or of large scale interpretations of these assemblages exists. As we will show, chariot components placed in funeral assemblages of warriors were meant to symbolize the social identity of the chariot owners, who were high members of the elite. These com- ponents reflect connections with chariot makers, who were exceptional craftsmen, responsible for the technological transfer of their knowledge throughout Europe for centuries. Chariots did not always play an emergent role on the battlefields of European history, they came to the fore only during certain periods. The chariot defined frequently as Celtic (biga/bigae – esse- dum) stands close to the Mediterranean type known from Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Etruria (Harbison 1969, 55), and it was adopted in central Italy due to an eastern influence beginning with the 8th century BC (Pare 1987, 213, Abb. 13; Chytráček 1988, 45). In Rhineland, this type appeared at the end of the Early Iron Age in the warrior graves, accompanied by spears and knives, and later by swords, too (Chytráček 1988, 45). In the British Islands, the first two-wheeled chariots appeared at the turn of the 5th and the 4th century BC (Cunliffe 1995, 31). Even though wheeled vehicles – four-wheeled wagons – appeared in the Carpathian Basin as early as the 4th millennium BC (Bondár 2012), the first two-wheeled chariots are known from the 3rd century BC, after the arrival of the ‘Celts’ in the area. Literary sources mentioning chariots refer mostly to the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, in some cases how- ever, they report events in retrospect from the 3rd century BC. Thus, Livy (Ab Urbe Condita X.28.8; 30.5) and Polybius (Historiai II.28–29) mention the one thousand Gallic chariots of the battle of Sentinum in 295 BC, where the Gallic chariots had a decisive role at the beginning of the fights. Chariots had been used on the flanks in the battle of Telamon in 225 BC and they are mentioned in the battle of Clastidium in 222 BC (Piggott 1952, 87; Harbison 1969, 45). They were also used in 279 BC during the inva- sion of the sanctuary of Delphi (Piggott 1952, 87), but more probably for carrying away booty, not as war-chariots (Harbison 1969, 45). Pliny (Naturalis Historia XXXIV.162–163) talks about the silver- like ornamentation of the chariots – „incoctilia” –, while Poseidonios in the 1st c. BC – cited by Strabo (Geographica IV.5.2) and Diodorus Siculus (Bibliotheca Historica V.29.1) – describes that the two-horse * This paper was supported by the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This work was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research and Innovation, CNCS-UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P4- ID-PCE–2016-0353, within PNCDI III. The documentation for this article has been mainly done during a research stage carried out in 2013 in the library of Römisch-Germanische Kommission at Frankfurt am Main, at the invitation of Susanne Sievers, whom I would like to warmly thank. I wish to thank Aurel Rustoiu for the bibliographic information. Iron Age Connectivity in the Carpathian Basin, 2018, p. 143–164 144 | Sándor Berecki chariots were used both for journeys and in battle (Harbison 1969, 46; Schönfelder 2002, 296–297; Szabó 2014, 106). He is the first to describe the usage of chariots in battle by the Celts: after throwing his spear from the chariot, the warrior dismounted to engage in hand-to-hand combat. Florus (Epitomae de gestis Romanorum I.18, I.37. I.45) has several short comments, he also described (I.37.5) the silver char- iot of Bituitus. The fact that Caesar’s work does not mention chariot warriors in Gaul, only in Britain (De bello Gallico IV.24, 32, 33; V. 9, 15–17, 19), has an important chronological aspect: most probably because of tactical reasons (Piggott 1952, 88) chariots were not used anymore on the continent in combat in the 1st century BC (Harbison 1969, 46). According to Tacitus (Agricola 12.35–36; 36) chariots were still in use on the British Islands in the time of Agricola (1st century AD). One should note, however, that all these authors refer to regions located far away from the Carpathian Basin, and they mention events posterior to the presence of the ‘Celts’ in the East, therefore they are only indirect sources in the recon- struction of the chariots’ significance in Eastern Europe. According to the classification of P. Harbison (1969, 34) of the graves with chariots, the Carpathian Basin belongs to the eastern group of this funerary custom. Schönfelder (2002, 362) also considers that the areas east of the Alps together with the Carpathian Basin form a special historical unit. Even if the number of funeral and domestic assemblages with chariot components in the Carpathian Basin is low – in France at the end of the 20th century more than 150 Late Iron Age chariot graves were known (Flouest 1984, 61) – they are significant for the understanding of how the warrior identity was per- ceived in the Eastern ‘Celtic’ koine. Some of the finds from the Carpathian Basin, like the ones from Odžaci in Serbia, Mukachevo in Ukraine or Cristuru Secuiesc, Curtuiuşeni and Toarcla in Romania as well as Balsa and Hatvan–Boldog in Hungary were first published at the end of the 19th century or in the first half of the 20th century. Others, like the ones from Arnót in Hungary, in the 1970s. A grave with a linchpin from Fântânele– Dâmbu Popii cemetery was published in the last decade, two graves with chariot components are men- tioned in Sajópetri, while a further linchpin was discovered by metal detectors few years ago at Gălăoaia in Mureş County. Two other linchpins were found lately among the drawings of the Apahida cemetery. In the following we will present the middle La Tène chariot discoveries east of the Danube (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Chariots east of the Danube: 1. Odžaci; 2. Hatvan–Boldog; 3. Arnót; 4. Sajópetri; 5. Balsa; 6. Mukachevo; 7. Curtuiuşeni; 8. Apahida; 9. Fântânele; 10. Gălăoaia; 11. Cristuru Secuiesc; 12. Vurpăr; 13. Toarcla. Connected Elites. Middle La Tène Chariots in the Carpathian Basin | 145 At Odžaci (West Bačka District, Serbia) a cremation grave with chariot elements and harness acces- sories together with a horse skull was discovered in 1902 (Pl. I).